A Sunny 11th Anniversary in Greenwood

5/19/23 Sakya Tibetan Monastery, Greenwood neighborhood

With traditional architecture on quiet streets, the Greenwood neighborhood has a lot to offer sketchers, not the least of which is at least a few houses of worship to choose from. USk Seattle met this morning in front of the bright yellow and orange Sakya Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, which we last sketched in 2018. The first time I sketched it was in 2014. Another time I sketched one of the entryway-guarding lions in winter from my car. This time I chose a corner with a large white bell and spinning prayer wheels (and a couple of sketchers). I think almost everyone chose the monastery for at least one of their sketches.

On this morning, a service was being held inside, so those of us nearby were treated to soft chanting drifting out to the street. At some point, a thoughtful monastery member came out and offered us tea!

St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church

A short walk away is St. John the Evangelist Parish, another church that I’ve sketched before but never seem to tire of. I can see the “bishop’s hat” from my house, which is a couple miles due east. Its proportions and elegant shape challenge me every time, but when the light hits it just right, it’s beautiful to render.

One of the sketchers mentioned yet another church within walking distance, but I didn’t have time for that one. I’m sure we’ll be back in Greenwood again, but I doubt it will be as perfect a morning as this one was – 68 degrees and sunny!

I meant to mention it during the outing but forgot: My first USk outing was May 20, 2012, so Greenwood was only a day off from my 11^th anniversary as an Urban Sketchers member. As I am at every outing, I was delighted by all the new members who have joined lately. I wish them as much fun and camaraderie as I have experienced the past 11 years and intend to continue having for years to come!

11 years with my tribe!

Greenwood's Spiritual Side

One thing I like about Urban Sketchers outings is that they take you to new places. This past weekend, I got a chance to experience the 'spiritual' side of Greenwood.

First stop in the itinerary is the Sakya Monestary, a Tibetan Buddhist temple set in the middle of residential area. Several things caught my attention right away: the bright colored exterior, the bell-shaped stupa (chorten) with the prayer wheels, and the snow lion statues, among other things. I whipped out my iPad with procreate app for this one. The lion statue was drawn using a continuous line drawing method. The stupa is such a prominent feature that I drew it twice. I sketch all linework on site then add the colors later on.

The Stupa (Chorten) with Prayer Wheels, and Snow Lion Statue

Sakya Monastery building and Chorten

I walked a couple of blocks to the next stop, St. John The Evangelist Catholic Church. This time, it's analog time with my trusted papermate marker and moleskine sketchbook. I applied the same method that I use to sketch interior spaces – I reduced the scene into basic shapes without worrying too much about the correct perspective. It turned out to be more challenging than I thought; I miscalculated the height of the tower, and got caught up in detailing the brick texture. In the end, I decided to go back to the basic and not stressing out about the little mistakes. After all, urban sketching is all about 'capturing the essence of space'. In the end, it turned out to be a pretty productive sketch outing.

St. John The Evangelist Catholic Church

There's a Tibetan Monastery in Seattle?

Who knew? Not me. I can't tell you how many things I have seen in Seattle because of Urban Sketchers.

I liked this glimpse of the bell shaped stupa through the trees. The monastery's website explains that the stupa is a memorial to one of it's founding lamas. The drawing shows a bit of the surrounding neighborhood, the traffic circle in front of the monastery and a couple of other urban sketchers who are appropriately bundled up for what turned out to be a really chilly day in August!

Two Houses of Worship in Greenwood

8/11/18 Sakya Monastery

Sixty-eight degrees with overcast skies! Ahhhh!

Despite my relief that the heatwave had finally broken, I was still miffed that this morning’s forecast called for rain and even thunderstorms. Couldn’t the rain wait until after our sketch outing? In fact, it did wait until the throwdown, so we all stayed dry while sketching the Greenwood neighborhood.

Our sketch outing featured two places of worship within a couple of blocks of each other: The bright yellow and red Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism and St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. I’ve sketched the monastery’s front entrance flanked by twin lions before, so today I went for the large bell at the side of the building. The bell is surrounded by stands of percussion instruments that make a soothing rattling sound when spun. Arriving before the other sketchers, I had seen someone come out of the monastery, walk around the bell and spin the instruments before stopping for prayers at the entrance.

Sketching St. John’s was a second attempt for me, too. More than five years ago I stood on the opposite side of the church and struggled with both the perspective and watercolor. At least I didn’t have the challenge of watercolor this time, but the perspective was no less a struggle. Giving it a shot with Eduardo Bajzek’s graphite method, I had a new difficulty: trying to make sense of the confusing values. The brightest spot on the building was the barely visible left face of the mitered top (the curve reflecting the sky), yet the sun (hiding behind thick clouds) was lighting the right side of the rest of the church.

8/11/18 St. John the Evangelist Church

The weather report didn’t scare away any sketchers! In fact, we welcomed several new faces, including Gigi, who was visiting all the way from Rio de Janeiro (front row, second from right).